While Happy Face‘s finale was meant to wrap up convicted killer Keith Hunter Jesperson‘s story, the show ended with a shocking cliffhanger instead — so what does that mean for a second season?
During the season finale, which premiered on Thursday, May 1, Melissa’s (Annaleigh Ashford) husband, Ben (James Wolk), took out a hit on her dad, Keith a.k.a the Happy Face killer (Dennis Quaid). Ben regretted it the next day but the plan was already set in motion.
Before Keith was attacked by a fellow inmate, he suffered a heart attack. Keith managed to pull through, but his relationship with Melissa was not able to recover despite his health scare. It seemed like Ben might be in the clear, since Melissa never found out what he tried to do to her dad — until Keith called Ben at the end of the episode with a threat.
“When I saw that episode — because we only saw the first few episodes in the beginning — I was like, ‘Yes!’ As an actor, that’s the stuff that you just love digging into,” Wolk, 40, exclusively told Us Weekly. “That was a real blessing to get that script and it was so fun to play.”
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Wolk was excited to see Ben face the reality of his decision, adding, “It’s fun to play a character who just comes undone. Ben is so buttoned up when you first meet him and he is running marathons and he is working at a bank. It’s just fun to watch him come apart.”
Quaid, 71, was equally thrilled by the potential for more episodes.
“I’m going to leave [a decision about season 2] to [creator Jennifer Cacicio and Melissa G. Moore]. They have such a great imagination with that. [But the real Keith] has always said that there were more than eight [victims]. Whether he is doing that for attention — which probably is the case — that remains to be seen,” the actor teased to Us about potential story lines. “But there’s more to explore here.”
Quaid continued: “What I love about the show is it’s authentic. That’s what it has going for it. If you love true crime … I mean I fall asleep to Dateline all the time — in a good way. But if you love true crime, you’re going to be addicted to this.”
Happy Face is largely inspired by Moore’s “Happy Face” podcast and her 2009 autobiography Shattered Silence. Before she was an executive producer on the true crime drama, Moore went public as Jesperson’s daughter. The inmate murdered at least eight women during the early 1990s.
“I like playing real people because true stories are stranger than fiction,” Quaid told Us. “You can’t make this stuff up. But usually I like to meet the real-life person if they’re alive because I want to play it from their point of view. But with this, I didn’t want to meet him.”
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Despite bringing Jesperson, 70, to life, Quaid wasn’t interested in his thoughts on the show, saying, “I don’t care what he thinks about it, to tell you the truth. I hope he doesn’t get to see the show because I’m sure he would be interested to see the show. He gets bored in prison.”
Quaid noted that primary focus was properly portraying Jesperson’s daughter Moore — who is played by Annaleigh Ashford — and her lived experience. He also wasn’t interested in visiting Jesperson in Oregon State Penitentiary.
“He’s in a hole in a prison, which is exactly where he should be,” Quaid added. “I didn’t want to give him any kind of satisfaction or excitement. In this tale, it’s really from his daughter’s point of view. I think she knows him better than he knows himself.”
Moore, for her part, didn’t rule out more seasons. She showed her approval during a joint interview with Cacicio, who told Us, “Melissa’s been like, ‘Oh, if we get a season 2, I have so many stories for you. There’s definitely more to explore with these characters and these stories and the true crime world.”
Happy Face is currently streaming on Paramount+.
